Water deluges Bangkok, stores' shelves empty and residents flee

A Thai woman struggles to walk as floodwater gushes through a market place near the Grand Palace Bangkok, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011.

Joan Manuel Baliellas / AFP - Getty Images

A woman crosses a barrier made of sand bags as she leaves a shop in the financial district of Bangkok on October 27, 2011.

Joan Manuel Baliellas / AFP - Getty Images

Residents walk past near empty shelves at a supermarket in Bangkok on October 27, 2011. Thailand's premier warned nervous Bangkok citizens that incoming floods could last for four weeks.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Buddhist monks and other passengers travel on a bus through the flooded streets of central Bangkok October 27, 2011. Thailand's prime minister said Bangkok was fighting the forces of nature on Thursday as floodwater threatened to break through dikes protecting the capital and residents took to the road after the government told them to leave if they could.

As the five day 'public holiday' begins and the water continues to rise, residents were scrambling to find supplies or leaving the city. Full story.